


more than a memory

by WattStalf



Category: Flourescence Series - P. Anastasia
Genre: F/M, but a song inspired it, how to tag this shit, idk potential future, my beautiful tragic otp lives on in my mind, not really an au is it?, spoilers for the final book, this is how i stick it to the man, this isnt a songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 10:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6749164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Are we gonna be more than a memory?</i><br/><i>No matter how lame my apology</i><br/><i>I let go of you, you let go of me</i><br/><i>Are we gonna be more than a memory?</i><br/><i>Are you gonna just stand in front of me</i><br/><i>Pretending I'm not your destiny?</i><br/><i>I'm not over you, are you over me?</i><br/><i>Are we gonna be more than a memory?</i><br/> </p><p>A chance encounter between David and Kareena.</p>
            </blockquote>





	more than a memory

**Author's Note:**

> because I finished the last book and because I also heard this stupid song all in one day, and I wanted my OTP to have nice things. Not really sure where they would end up years later or how things would work out, so I kept that vague.  
> I unproudly present to you, more bullshit by me.

He would have recognized her anywhere, even after all this time. She just had that look to her, the sort that made her stand out in any crowd, and that was more than his bias speaking. Though, eve after all this time, he found that the bias was still there and that, no matter how much he hated it, once he'd caught sight of Kareena, his eyes were continuously drawn to her. What she was doing here was another matter entirely, and he had always thought it was so unlikely that he would see her again, much less run into her entirely by chance.

David knew that talking to her now wouldn't be a good idea. They'd cut things off long ago for a reason, he'd pushed her away for a reason, and even a simple hello might cause him to forget that reason. He was weak; just seeing her from this distance had reminded him how weak he was where she was concerned. And, god, was she was beautiful as ever, even if he was too far away to really get sucked into those green eyes of hers like he always had in the past.

He needed to get out of here, away from her and whatever trouble she might get him into now. She had never been any good for him, and he was sure that that would never change, but then, what if it had? And what harm could come from just talking to an old friend? These excuses were weak, but so was he, and he was already making his way over to her.

As soon as she saw him coming, he knew that he was not going to be able to go the other way and pretend he had never noticed her. He wondered if she would try to get away from this, but she didn't move, looking back at him with an expression that he could not read. At least he could tell that she still recognized him, but that was the extent of how much he could read into her face. Finally, after what felt like much too long, he reached her.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she replied. “It's been a long time.”

“Sure has,” he said. This conversation was going about as well as he had expected it to, which was not very.

“Still hate my guts?” And that was just like Kareena, always getting straight to the point.

“I never hated you,” he said quickly, “I just needed time on my own. I had my own shit to work out, and you couldn't be a part of that.”

“Because you wouldn't _let_ me.” Already, she was getting angry at him, and they had barely spoken.

“Because you had your shit and I had mine, and you didn't know what you wanted,” he shot back. “It only would have complicated things for me, and you know it.”

“You don't-” Her eyes flashed, but she paused, stopping herself before she said anything else. “Forget it. I don't wanna fight about this. Not when this is the first time I've seen you in years. What are you doing here?”

“I live here, actually. In the area, anyway. I could ask you the same question, you know.”

“I'm on vacation, obviously.” She grinned at him. “What better place to get away to? But you get to live here full time?”

“It's no vacation for me. I've gotta work hard to keep...you know, keep Lucy well taken care of.” He was hesitant to even mention her, knowing that his daughter had been one of the biggest things to come between them.

“How is she?”

“She's great.” Despite himself, he couldn't help brightening, as he always did when he remembered how Lucy was growing up. “She does great in school, and she's happy. She's such a good kid.”

“I'm glad...I'm glad things turned out okay for you,” said Kareena. “I'm sorry everything went to shit with us.”

“Well, I think we both knew it never could have worked.”

“Did you?”

“What?” He blinked, surprised by her statement.

“Did you know it wouldn't work out? Because, for a while there, I kinda thought it would. I kinda thought...it was meant to be, or something stupid like that.” She rolled those gorgeous eyes of hers. “I know it sounds stupid, but in the end, I started to think maybe I had been blind and that there was something more there. We were meant to be together, or some bullshit like that. But none of that stuff is really real...” She shrugged, as if brushing it off, but something told him that she hadn't ever managed to brush what they had had off.

“Kareena...” He sighed, but inside, he wasn't sure how he felt about all of this. Oh, he was so, _so_ weak. “You can't say something like that to me, not after everything.”

“And why not? It doesn't mean anything, right?” she asked. “I mean, isn't that what you always thought? I know you didn't think what we had meant anything.”

_Shit_ . Maybe he'd hurt her more than he realized in the process of rejecting her; maybe he'd been too concerned with his own hurt to realize what he was doing to her. Or maybe he had been justified, but she had taken the time she needed to grow up and learn what she wanted from life, and now she realized that she had her regrets. “You did some things that really hurt me,” he said at last.

“And, Christ, I wish I hadn't,” she replied. “But I was young, and I'd been through hell. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold onto yourself after something like that? I mean, I guess you do, but...” He had told himself he was only speaking to her because he wanted to say hello, but the conversation had turned so serious, so quickly, that he knew that wasn't what this was about. This was about unfinished business.

“I think you're still a little confused about some things. A second ago, you're casually telling me how you _used to_ think these things, and now you're acting like that never changed,” he said. “So, which is it?”

“Well...” She smiled, somewhere between genuine and the sort of smile that no man could resist. “Which do you want it to be?”

“I guess I'm confused too, because I don't know the answer to that myself. But I don't want what I've worked so hard to build for myself, or for my daughter, to get messed up, alright?”

“Jesus, David, what do you think I am?” she asked. “I'm not going to do anything to mess things up for you. I just wanted to know what you thought, or if you...still felt anything.”

The years had not made her any less irresistible, and it was true that he hadn't found anyone else over the years, hadn't even tried. He couldn't lie to himself about the fact that she had been something special, even if things had turned out so badly, and he couldn't pretend that a chance for things to turn out better wouldn't be something that he wanted, but he was realistic. He didn't know if that was really what was happening here, and he didn't want to throw himself back into this only for it to end up a dead end; he didn't know if he could take this all over again.

“This isn't about what I feel. This is about what I asked you before,” he said. “So, answer me. Which is it?”

She paused, looking conflicted, but this time, though her answer was still vague, it told him enough. “Which do you think?”

He was weak, and he knew there was such a high chance of this ending badly and of him regretting this. She had been nothing but trouble in the past, and just because she seemed different now didn't mean that she was, but he always had a hard time resisting her, and he'd not had any time to keep up his immunity. Even if it was just for a night, he couldn't say no to her, and whether he ended up regretting it or not, he couldn't stop himself from going through with it.

He was so weak, but for the moment, he didn't mind that at all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I did the thing.  
> Time to go cry over my babies a little more.


End file.
